David R

lol me neither, but I'll happily sit here munching back on an XL bucket of the stuff watching all the drama queens get defensive misinterpreting my comments as a personal attack on their integrity as a human being.... Well its obviously not them then is it. I'm not making a personal attack on the credibility of individuals, merely pointing out that brushing off those who have used many brands and subsequently recommend the more expensive brands as "fanboys" is a bit naive. Put your e-sword away Don Quixote, its only a windmill....

:roll: The people I see [myself included] recommending the more expensive products are doing so because they have used both and have made comparisons between them. Which is more than can be said for the "I've got an aquaone filter and its fine" brigade who have never even owned the more expensive brands....

Heh I know, I just spent a ridiculous amount of money on "bling factor" for my bike.... :oops: IIRC they were both cleaned out and the Eheim was considerably faster should set it up and do another comparison now its had time to accumulate more crud in the pipes. One day... LOL Ira, its going to be sitting in a box in my garage....

Have you actually done any real comparisons? I've had a 700lph-rated Eheim and AquaOne running side by side on the same tank, both cleaned out on the same day, and one was flowing more than the other. But hey, fishkeeping is all about the bling right, thats why I opted for a glass sump to show off my Jager heaters and Laguna pump instead of using a big plactic tub.... :lol:

I haven't been able to find any plastic "light diffuser" stuff, only aluminium, phoned most of the big air conditioning places in Auckland, they only have the alu stuff. The hollywood stuff is good, but not cost effective for the amount I would need for a big sump. Thin strips of glass are probably the best option.

I had a centre baffle crack because of insufficient bracing (the tank makers mistake, not mine!), then that stressed a corner seam and it started leaking, and now I'm certain that how I've designed the mechanical filtration isn't going to work as the wool etc will be too restrictive. Could use a big canister as mechanical to bypass that stage, but that will also be more money. Kind of ignoring it for now, the whole thing is a bit depressing really, scared that if I fill it up and it leaks for a third time I'll drown myself in it.... I'll be interested to see how the settling bit works. Only flaw I can see is that all the media is underwater, ideally a mix of wet and "dry" media would be best, will still work though. And the baffles between the heaters and pump don't really seem necessary, other than that it looks good.

As much as it eats really, I've never kept the smaller species, but all my fire eels and tyre tracks have been pigs...

Sounds like he is the kind of person they value and would like to keep happy. Does he get on well with the managers/employers? IMO the best idea would be to sit down in a relaxed environment with someone he gets on well with (one on one) and have a talk about what he wants and feels he is worth. Keep the aggression and confrontation to a minimum, chances are if he's not unrealistic with his demands they will be happy to meet some/all of them. "Extra milers" are worth their weight in gold to any company,and any competent manager knows it...

get some raw frozen shrimp from the asian supermarket and chop it up, they love it. I had a fire eel years ago that grew to over 14" eating nothing but bloodworms, 5 cubes a day, swallowed whole straight from my fingers!!

Only problem with that is it has to get thru all the noodles first and clog them up. I've been experimenting with settling chambers before my sump on my 800L 6' tank, currently running a 3' tank with a few baffles and it certainly catches a lot of crud. Still need filter wool though. Not sure why you'd still need a canister with a well designed sump, would be nice to help polish the water, but not necessary...

Yeah I'm surprised more effort hasn't gone into breeding platinum/high shine silver asian aro. maybe it has and just hasn't been successful, not sure? Would look awesome though...

So can he not just change his terms/rates as a contractor? Or is it a fixed term type contract?

So is he employed by the company or a contractor?

Maybe try some of that NLS stuff? Even with prepared foods its good to feed a wide variety.

Thats the thread for my 1400L tank sump, probably a little overkill for an 800L. This is the one I was talking about, pretty standard wet/dry sump for fresh water. Just needs an overflow for a continuous drip/auto water changer. http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/ ... /Sump2.jpg

Maybe threaten to join the union if he doesn't get a significant rise? :lol:

Have a search for sump designs, I've posted a plan of my sump countless times and can't be bothered looking through my photobucket album to find it again. Auto water changer isn't difficult, Henward has posted a good thread about his system somewhere not so long ago. 4 T5's sounds a bit overkill, 2 would be plenty (obviously with oscars this isn't going to be a planted tank...) What are you planning to stock it with?

Its not going to be making the discus very happy, could stress it out and lead to all sorts of problems. Probably best to separate them.

You think the aro is cool, how about a platinum arapaima! http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... p?t=334308 Imagine that thing when it gets to 6' long!!!

I hope that doesn't mean next year is going to be mud for me because this year has been a good one! :-? Sorry to hear about that Barrie, but at the end of the day if you and the ones you love are still above ground its not so bad, give it time, you'll get through it.

You're right, which is exactly why I would encourage people to spend a bit more to get the fish that they really want. The $200 price difference between a black and a silver is nothing when spread over 10+ years and taking the cost of the tank/food/power etc into consideration. Aggression isn't as much of a problem with the large outdoor ponds they use for breeding them, AFAIK.

Don't think its quite that simple Alan, its not like silver aros are difficult or uncommon to breed yet this colour morph very rarely appears. Same deal with platinum barramundi, they're bred in their millions for the aquaculture industry, yet platinums are still rare and very expensive.

And if you want to be really picky none of them are actually eels, just long fish....

Good move!

http://www.loaches.com/disease-treatmen ... in-the-sky Its written from a loach-keepers perspective but applies to all fish really.